Kurd Nine-Grid

"How strange—why has it been so peaceful these past two weeks?"

Standing atop the high wall on the outer perimeter of Armory Camp, Audrey, on her daily patrol, gazed into the distance and saw not a single figure.

In the two weeks since the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm retreated, violent gangs or foreign tribes had attacked almost every day, trying to plunder and occupy Armory Camp.

After two weeks passed, having wiped out several violent gangs, this area fell into an eerie calm. No more thugs or foreign tribes assaulted Armory Camp.

Audrey knew there were many thugs in the Odyssey Region. They had killed quite a few these days, but not enough to eliminate them all.

She wondered what schemes those thugs were plotting in some corner.

The thugs hadn't wandered over, naturally because they were drawn away by the news the Vincent Family had spread.

Armory Camp was remote and unaware of this, so Audrey's confusion was understandable.

Whether violent gangs attacked or not, Medivh didn't care.

Killing them yielded no benefits; steady development was the true path.

In the month since the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm retreated, the Time Skeletons worked day and night. The walls on the east, west, and south sides of Armory Camp were joined, and the Wall District was completed.

The walls of the Wall District weren't imposing—only sixteen meters high and six meters thick—but they sufficed for the Odyssey Region.

Walls just needed a certain height; the main defense against enemies relied on the garrison atop them.

Without a strong garrison, even walls twenty or thirty meters high couldn't stop an enemy assault.

With the walls joined, entering or leaving Armory Camp was only possible through the gates in the east, west, south, and north. Anywhere else required climbing over the walls.

Skeleton soldiers stood guard and patrolled atop the walls; bypassing them to climb over was impossible.

With the walls joined, Medivh had his first true district.

He officially named Armory Camp "Kurd."

Kurd wouldn't have just one district. The brick kiln was constantly expanding to produce various building bricks. Next, large square blocks would be built and integrated into Kurd.

For instance, the area west of Kurd's walls, where yellow earth was dug for brick-making, was the Reservoir District Medivh had planned.

He had long made plans; the skeletons weren't digging randomly.

That area would eventually become a four-by-four grid of medium square blocks, each containing a deep square pond nearly two hundred meters on a side.

The boundaries of the medium squares were the pond embankments, serving as roads for people to walk on.

Sixteen deep square ponds together formed the reservoir.

The Reservoir District's purpose was to supply water to the city, store water for irrigating the nearby Agricultural and Pastoral Districts, and also allow fish farming for meat.

With Kurd City District as the center of a nine-grid, the east and west grids were both Reservoir Districts, the south grid was the Graveyard District, and the north grid housed the Manufacturing District with the brick kiln and other buildings. The four corner grids would be three Agricultural Districts and one Pastoral District.

These large square districts, like Kurd City District, had a ring of hundred-meter-wide walled small-square districts, with high walls built to protect the interior areas.

The Wall District was also a double-row building: the outer row was the defensive wall against enemies, and the inner row housed the fort towers where combat and logistics skeletons lived.

The large square districts weren't adjacent; a hundred-meter-wide main road was reserved between them.

Each large square district was both an independent area and could support the others as mutually reinforcing positions.

If enemies attacked from the main road, they'd face fire from both sides.

The main roads between large square districts functioned like barbicans.

The large square districts weren't completely isolated; Medivh had designed underground corridors for troop movement during wartime.

The nine large square districts formed a connected fortress, with their own water sources, farmland, pastures, and manufacturing areas, giving them strong self-sufficiency.

Once the Kurd Nine-Grid was completed, it wouldn't fear siege.

From his accidental death in his past life, to the upheavals of his childhood in this life, and his clansmen's scheming, Medivh subconsciously lacked a sense of security.

His design of the territory as a connected fortress and his practice of the Earth Battle Qi Breathing Technique both showed his emphasis on defense.

Moreover, his talent supported this approach—as long as he lived, he could keep growing stronger. The longer he lived, the more Time Skeletons under his command would become, and the stronger they'd grow.

Over the past month, Medivh hadn't slacked in his cultivation.

After using up the high-quality bones excavated from the ancient battlefield, he refined skeletons from bones dug up at ordinary Residential District ruins.

This month, Kurd City District gained one hundred sixty-five Grey Bones, one hundred twenty-four White Bones, and fifty-two Green Bone Skeletons.

These skeletons were all ordinary ones; the common Residential District ruins held no remains of Human Knights or mages.

Alongside refining skeletons, Medivh learned two earth-type combat techniques: Earth-Splitting Slash and Mountain Rock Stance.

Earth-Splitting Slash was an offensive technique; its basic effect was akin to a combination of staggering the ground and a Sword Qi slash.

To achieve an earth-shattering effect where Sword Qi rose from the ground to tear apart the target required a very high knightly realm.

Mountain Rock Stance was a purely defensive technique, coating the body surface with battle qi to greatly enhance defense.

Its effect was somewhat similar to the earth-type spell Stone Skin.

At a high level of Mountain Rock Stance, one could transform battle qi into a stance as unyielding as mountain rock, with astonishing defensive power.

This, too, required a very high knightly realm; insufficient battle qi couldn't achieve this effect.

There was one more earth-type combat technique Medivh hadn't learned—Savage Stone Charge, a shield-charging skill.

How the Odyssey Region was stirring didn't concern Medivh.

After the walls of Kurd City District were sealed, the skeletons continued working overtime to build the walls of the other districts.

The Residential District of Kurd City District wasn't being built in a hurry.

Medivh planned to first finish the Kurd Nine-Grid, and only after achieving self-sufficiency would he refine the internal buildings of the city district.

In the blink of an eye, it had already been a week since the Vincent Family was robbed by the mob.

The mob gathered in Winter Canyon lacked the courage to storm Winter Fortress and plunder the Gewalt Federation.

After lingering for a while and finishing the food stolen from the Vincent Family, the mob split into large and small groups and entered the Odyssey Region to raid.

Some mob groups attacked the human camps and alien tribes they knew of.

Other mob groups wandered along the Winter Mountains, intending to enter them for hunting.

The Winter Mountains were not unclaimed land. The side of the forest near the Odyssey Region was either occupied by alien tribes or was the territory of powerful Magic Beasts.

Caught between poaching and being driven off, a large mob moved eastward along the Winter Mountains.

"There's actually a small town here?"

When Kurd City District came into view, the mob looked stunned. When had a small town appeared in this remote area?

"Food!"

Then their eyes lit up, and they charged toward Kurd City District at full speed.

Compared to Winter Fortress, this small town was much easier to plunder.

Being able to build a walled town here meant the residents inside were certainly well-off and not short on food.

"Hahaha, it's actually a skeleton town!"

The mob had spotted Kurd, but Kurd's garrison had spotted them too.

Seeing skeletons working in the wild retreating back into the city, the mob froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.